The Push for Physician Assisted Suicide
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Updated: 2 hours ago
Physician-Assisted Suicide/Medical Aid in Dying
Summary, Ethical Concerns, Status in North Carolina, and Alternatives
Physician-Assisted Suicide (PAS) often rebranded as Medical Aid in Dying (MAiD) occurs when a physician prescribes lethal drugs to a patient who intends to use them to end their life. Proponents present this practice as an expression of autonomy and compassion. It is neither. This is the intentional facilitation of suicide by a physician.
Physician-assisted suicide is contrary to the Hippocratic Oath, which clearly states:"I will give no deadly medicine to anyone if asked, nor suggest such counsel." The oath also affirms that physicians must act “for the benefit of the sick according to my ability and judgment.”
For more than two thousand years, the physician’s role has been to heal, comfort, and protect life. When a physician intentionally helps cause a patient’s death, that role fundamentally changes. Many physicians believe that once medicine crosses that line, it undermines the trust patients place in their doctors and contradicts the ethical principle of “do no harm.”
Just as abortion pits the mother against her unborn child, physician-assisted suicide pits the physician against the patient. Many ethicists argue that assisted suicide undermines the trust patients place in the medical profession.
Within the United States, 13 states and the District of Columbia have legalized physician-assisted suicide. Experience has shown that once such laws are enacted, initial restrictions often expand over time, broadening eligibility and weakening so-called safeguards.
Suicide is already a major public health problem in the United States and is especially high among vulnerable populations such as veterans and teenagers. The promotion of suicide for the terminally ill, as permitted under assisted suicide laws, raises serious concerns. The CDC treats suicide as a public health crisis that we must prevent. Yet in some states physicians are now being asked to help facilitate it.
U S. Jurisdictions Allowing Physician-Assisted Suicide
State / District | Year | State / District | Year |
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Oregon | 1997 | Maine | 2019 |
Washington | 2009 | New Jersey | 2019 |
Montana | 2009 | New Mexico | 2021 |
Vermont | 2013 | Arizona | 2023 |
California | 2016 | Delaware | 2025 |
Colorado | 2016 | New York | 2026 |
D.C. | 2017 | Hawaii | 2019 |
North Carolina: Recent Legislative History
In North Carolina, physician-assisted suicide has not been legalized, although there have been multiple legislative attempts over the past decade.
Since 2015, Democratic lawmakers have introduced legislation to legalize or study “MAiD.” Bills titled the “End-of-Life Options Act” were introduced during the 2015, 2017, and 2019 sessions of the North Carolina General Assembly. These bills stalled in committee, never reached crossover, and never advanced to the floor of the North Carolina House.
During the 2023–2024 legislative session, a different strategy was used with the introduction of House Bill 877 – North Carolina Institute of Medicine Study/Medical Aid in Dying. This measure was structured as an appropriations bill, meaning it included funding. Because appropriations bills involve funding, they remain eligible for consideration throughout the entire legislative session, including both the long session and the short session. Fortunately, this bill also stalled in committee.
Most recently, in March 2025, House Bill 410 – North Carolina Institute of Medicine Study/Medical Aid in Dying was introduced.
The primary Suicide Sponsors of this bill in the NC House were: |
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This legislation directs the North Carolina Institute of Medicine, a progressive nonpartisan health policy organization, to conduct a study examining the impact of legalizing physician-assisted suicide in North Carolina by reviewing procedures and outcomes in states where the practice is legal. At present, this bill has not advanced out of the House Rules Committee.
Reasons to Oppose Legalization of Physician-Assisted Suicide |
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Six-month prognoses are often unreliable |
Insurance companies may deny life-saving treatment |
People with disabilities fear coercion |
Mental health evaluations are often lacking before lethal drugs are prescribed |
“Safeguards” tend to erode over time |
Assisted suicide laws often expand to include non-terminal conditions |
Suicide contagion and public normalization of suicide are real risks |
Alternatives to Physician Assisted Suicide
Palliative care provides comprehensive pain and symptom management that improves quality of life.
Pain management specialists can treat severe or otherwise refractory pain.
Mental health treatment, including evaluation for depression and anxiety, addresses conditions that are often treatable and reversible.
Family and social support help reduce isolation and emotional despair.
Every human person possesses inherent dignity, regardless of age, health, disability, or stage of life, because each of us is created in the image and likeness of God. A compassionate society does not respond to suffering by offering death. North Carolina must stand firmly for the protection of life and must not become another state that legalizes physician-assisted suicide.
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